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Malik Minister faces new probe over £1,015 council tax claim
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent23.06.09
Embattled minister Shahid Malik today faced fresh allegations that he claimed more than £1,000 too much for council tax on his second home.
The communities minister, who is already facing an investigation by the parliamentary commissioner for standards into his Commons expenses, is said to have put in claims for the levy totalling £2,999 between 2005 and 2007.
The Telegraph alleged that the Dewsbury MP regularly did not submit bills for this and that he overclaimed by at least £1,015 as the council tax on his property in Southwark, south London, should have been £1,984 for a band C property.
If true, the revelation would be a particular blow to Mr Malik as his department is responsible for the council tax.
His specific responsibilities include Olympics legacy, the Thames Gateway, cohesion, race, migration and tackling violent extremism.
Mr Malik stressed that if he had mistakenly underpaid council tax, he would repay it.
His lawyer said that he had asked for the council tax demands for the relevant period so he could check the figures.
“He confirms that he made claims monthly, or every other month, which should have been reconciled with the demand at the end of the year,” his legal adviser added.
“If there has been any overpayment, it is entirely inadvertent and the result of a failure properly to reconcile the claim with the annual figure.
“If any public money has been overpaid, that amount will be repaid immediately.”
Mr Malik reportedly claimed a single occupancy 25 per cent discount in his council tax for 2007/08, though it was not clear whether he had done this for earlier years.
If he had, his overclaim may have been £1,510, according to The Telegraph.
Mr Malik, who stood down as justice minister last month but was brought back as communities minister earlier this month, has been cleared of breaching the ministerial code after an inquiry found he had not benefited from below-market rate rent for his constituency home and office.
But he now is also being investigated by the Commons sleazebuster after a complaint was made about his arrangements for having an office in his constituency home, as well as already having another office in Dewsbury.
Mr Malik is understood to have already repaid some taxpayer's money including £730 for a massage chair and has offered to pay £1,050 to charity in the wake of his controversial claim reportedly for a home cinema system.
Meanwhile, Rosie Winterton, a middle-ranking minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government, allegedly also overclaimed for council tax by more than £1,000 on her Southwark second home, according to The Telegraph.
She denied this, saying: “I believe the claim is correct but I shall be talking to the fees office about it.
“I will also be requesting information from the relevant council.”
Reader views (6)
How much stealing does it take before an MP is sacked, arrested or even suspended? If I 'inadvertently' forget to pay my council tax or income tax you can bet your life that I will be pummeled by the local authority or HMRC so why is this thieving parasite being allowed to get away with it? He was even promoted! It is obvious to anyone bar Mawer that this crook has not only been milking it he has been criminally abusing it. Mawer is either totally incompetent or like so many of the MP's totally crooked and corrupt. It is an insult to every law abiding tax payer in this country that the like of Malik appear to be above the law and enjoy the protection of none other than the PM himself, what sort of people are these? It beggars belief that we have now become as corrupt a parliament as anything you would see in Africa or elsewhere. Why is this man still a minister and why has he not been sacked!
- Ed, Hants
Any man that claims back the cost of two poppy wreaths
for the remeberance day service in is consituency should not be a member of parliament.
- Fed Up Consituents ,, MIRFIELD
This Nu Labor stealing - that is what it is STEALING - has to stop. Under Crash Gordon this will just continue he thinks the state can do anything.
- Steveo, London NW1
You can bet this muppet is claiming for the cost of his lawyers on his expenses.
What a slippery parasite he is.
Just like the rest of those wombles languishing in the House of Conmen.
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK
This pilfering parasite, when investigated recently, claimed that he paid half his rent in cash because he had not got around to changing the amount of the direct debit. This excuse was accepted by Sir Philip Mawer who found him not guilty of any wrongdoing. Any idiot knows that it is the payee who debits the amount owing and the debtor does not have to alter anything. His claims and excuses for them suggest that his landlord is evading paying tax on the cash amount, and the not guilty verdict raises serious questions about the integrity - and competence of Sir Philip Mawer. All future enquiries ought to be carried out by police inspectors - not one of Gordon Brown's cronies. Every so-called "internal enquiry" so far has resulted in a whitewash.
- R.F., Yorks, UK
Don't you just despair at these parasites. They all pretty well know they were milking the system. Are they trying to tell the public they don't know what their council tax is but can then claim against it regardless!.
They've been fiddling for years and would continue to so thinking details would not be in the public domain. Were it not for the leaked expenses, they would quite happily carry on. You can bet your dollar, we are only scratching the surface of their fiddles.
- Asw, HK
